Charlie Munger Says Banks ‘Full of’ Bad Loans on Commercial Property: Report
‘It’s not nearly as bad as it was in 2008. But trouble happens to banking, just like trouble happens everywhere else.
In the good time, you get into bad habits. When bad times come, they lose too much.’ — Charlie Munger, vice chair, Berkshire Hathaway.
That’s Charlie Munger, the 99-year-old vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway, in an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday, in which the newspaper said he warned that U.S. banks are “full of” bad loans on commercial property.
Munger observed that banks were already retreating from commercial property, telling the FT that “every bank in the country is way tighter on real-estate loans today than they were six months ago.” Munger will again appear with Berkshire Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Buffett at Berkshire’s annual meeting on Saturday.
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March sparked worries over the banking sector, particularly regional banks, as investors pulled deposits. SVB’s collapse put a spotlight on potentially painful losses lurking at banks from trillions of dollars in commercial-real-estate loans on their books.
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich Urges Bypassing Congress to Raise Debt Ceiling
Robert Reich, former secretary of labor in the U.S., has called for the government to bypass Congress in order to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally.
China’s Gold Splurge Reaches Sixth Month as Reserves Rise Again
Central banks across the world continued to buy gold in the first quarter, adding 228.4 tons to global reserves, up 176% YoY, data from the World Gold Council (WGC) showed on Friday.
Federal Reserve Raises Fed Funds Rate by 25 Basis Points, Signals Possible Pause
The U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) continued its year-plus slew of rate hikes on Wednesday, May 3, lifting the fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a targeted range of 5%-5.25%.
